James Caan

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James Langston Edmund Caan

Birth name	James Langston Edmund Caan
Born	March 26, 1940 (age 67) The Bronx, New York, USA
Other name(s)	James Caan
Notable roles	Santino Corleone in The Godfather Brian Piccolo in Brian's Song Frank in Thief Paul Sheldon in Misery Ed Deline in Las Vegas

James Caan (born March 26, 1940) is an Academy Award, Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated American film, stage and television actor. He is best known as having played the role of Sonny Corleone in 1972's The Godfather, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award.

1 Biography
2 Footnotes
3 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Caan was born in The Bronx, New York to Sophie and Arthur Caan, Jewish immigrants from Germany.^[1] He is a graduate of New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse where one of his instructors was teaching legend Sanford Meisner. Caan played college football at Michigan State University.

[edit] Career

Caan began acting in television in such series as The Untouchables, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, "Kraft Suspense Theatre", "Combat!", Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare, "The Wide Country", "Alcoa Premiere", "Route 66", and "Naked City". His first substantial film role was as a villain in the 1964 thriller Lady In A Cage. In 1967, Caan appeared in El Dorado with John Wayne. He first won praise for his role as a brain-damaged football player in The Rain People (1969), directed by Francis Ford Coppola. In 1971, Caan won more acclaim as dying football player Brian Piccolo in the television movie Brian's Song, which was later released in theaters. The following year, Coppola cast Caan as mobster Sonny Corleone in The Godfather, which also helped launch Al Pacino's career. Caan was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the film.

From 1973-82, Caan appeared in many Hollywood films. He played a wide variety of roles. His films include Cinderella Liberty, Rollerball, Harry And Walter Go To New York, A Bridge Too Far, Comes A Horseman and Chapter Two (a play screenplay conversion by Neil Simon). In 1980, Caan directed Hide In Plain Sight a film about a father searching for his children lost in the Witness Protection Program. Despite critical praise, the film was not a hit with the public. The following year, Caan appeared in Thief, directed by Michael Mann, where he played a professional safe cracker. This film is today regarded as a neo-noir classic and Caan has often said it is the role he is proudest of next to The Godfather.

From 1982-87, Caan suffered from depression over his sister's death, a growing problem with cocaine, and what he described as "Hollywood burnout," did not act in any films. He returned to film in 1987 when Coppola cast him as an army platoon sergeant for the "Old Guard" in Gardens of Stone, a film that dealt with the effect of the Vietnam War on the homefront. In 1988 and 1990, Caan starred in the films Alien Nation, Dick Tracy and Misery (co-star Kathy Bates won a Best Actress Oscar). In 1992, Caan made the hit Honeymoon in Vegas. He co-starred with Sarah Jessica Parker and Nicolas Cage and spoofed his "Sonny Corleone" character from The Godfather.

In 1996, he appeared in the indie hit Bottle Rocket and pursued Arnold Schwarzenegger in Eraser. In 1999, Caan followed Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, Powers Boothe and Danny Glover when he portrayed Philip Marlowe in the HBO film Poodle Springs. Some of his most recent appearances have been in The Yards (2000), City of Ghosts (2002), Dogville (2003), and Elf (2003).

In 2003, he auditioned and won the role of the head security officer 'Big Ed' Deline in Las Vegas. On February 27, 2007, Caan announced that he would not return to Las Vegas for the show's fifth season in order to return to film work.

[edit] Personal life

Caan has been married four times. In 1960, he married Dee Jay Mathis; they had one child and divorced in 1966 . His second marriage to Sheila Ryan (1976) was short lived: they divorced the next year. His son Scott was born in 1976. Between September 1990 and March 1995, Caan was married to Ingrid Hajek; they also had one child. He married Linda Stokes in October 1996, and they divorced in April 2005. They have two children.

Caan is a practicing martial artist. He has trained with karate master Tak Kubota for nearly thirty years, earning various ranks.^[2] He trained the Culver City Police department in martial arts use.^[1]

[edit] Linked to the Mob

Caan was regularly seen with Columbo family underboss Carmine "Junior" Persico during the filming of The Godfather. Caan is also friends with mafia member Ronald "Ronnie" Lorenzo, for whom Caan put his house up to bail him out of jail. Caan testified at L.A. mafia tough guy Anthony Fiato's grand jury. Caan also appeared as a character witness in Lorenzo's trial.

[edit] Caan in pop culture

The popular TV series Family Guy makes a reference to Caan in the episode "He's Too Sexy for His Fat." Caan is also featured in the "All's Fair in Oven War" episode of The Simpsons, playing himself in Bart's treehouse grotto. He is gunned down in a manner similar to Sonny Corleone in the episode's coda (by Cletus Spuckler variants, in revenge for Caan "stealing" Brandine's heart). He also made an appearance as himself in the TV series "Newsradio," episode 308 ("Movie Star"). The episode deals with his visiting the radio station to research a role, but being sidetracked by Matthew, who in Caan's words is "the strangest sonuvabitch I ever saw/"

In the sit-com Seinfeld episode "The Letter," Jerry receives a letter from the girl he is seeing, Nina, telling him that he doesn't "opt for happiness", a direct line she copied out of Chapter Two. Later, when Jerry discovers the "stunning similarity," he exclaims "I opt for happiness! James Caan doesn't opt for happiness!"

"From Chunk to Hunk," an episode of the animated TV series The Critic, portrays William Shatner hosting an episode of "Celebrity 911" that is entirely dedicated to police calls involving James Caan. He then twitches and shouts, "CAAAAAAN!," a reference to his famous line from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

As a result of his portrayal of Sonny Corleone, Caan is often mistaken for being of Italian ancestry, and has even received recognition from a few Italian-American organizations. However, Caan is of German Jewish descent.^[1]